| Release Date: April 2015 |
| Publisher: Balzer + Bray |
| Genre: YA Contemporary |
| Length: 301 Pages |
| My Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ |
Hi Readers!
I’m rereading a lot of old favourites at the moment and this was one of them. I read this for the first in 2015 and this is the third time since then that I’ve picked it up. Although I was quite shocked by how much I’d forgotten.
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
Simon is a teenager who knows he’s gay but isn’t ‘out’ to his friends and family yet. But there is one person who knows, Blue. Blue isn’t his real name and Simon doesn’t know who he is, all he knows is he goes to Simon’s school and he’s slowly falling in love with him, even though they’ve only spoken through email.
This book is an uplifting take on a boy coming out of the closet. It’s able to capture all of the awkwardness of being a teenager, first love and discovouring yourself and your sexuality.
But it’s also about that time of uncertainty about how your friends and family will react when you tell them who you are. Especially when most people assume they already know.
You’ll love all of the characters. Their friendship dynamics are just everything and they really bounce off each other well.
This book is whitty and comical. How the characters speak and the issues they’re facing really speaks to my teenage self. When I first read this I was a teenager but now I’m 22 but I still relate to it.
Would I Read Again? I already have. But I will again, and again, and again.
Would I Recommend? Absolutely!
Comfort Reads 